Microsoft officially joins the quantum computer development race

Microsoft (MS) has officially entered the quantum computer development race, which has been led by IBM and Google.

According to major foreign media on the 22nd (local time), MS announced its quantum computer development roadmap the day before, stating that "it will be able to develop a reliable and practical quantum supercomputer within 10 years."

Unlike conventional computers that store information as 0 or 1 in transistors directly on semiconductor chips, quantum computers use qubits in a 'quantum superposition' state where 0 and 1 are mixed.

On the same day, MS announced that it had developed "topological qubits" last year and achieved the "first milestone" for developing next-generation computing capabilities.

Chetan Nayak, MS Quantum Hardware Technology Researcher and Vice President, said, "These qubits provide much higher stability than existing technologies," adding, "Using them, we will be able to develop a quantum supercomputer that performs reliable quantum computations."

MS expects to develop a quantum computer that can perform over one million operations per second while maintaining a low failure rate of one in a trillion through these qubits.

MS stated that the next step in its quantum computer development roadmap will focus on several key areas, including the development of hardware-protected qubits.

Hardware-protected qubits have built-in error prevention functions for the computation process and allow faster and more stable control, helping to reduce computational errors.

With MS setting a goal to develop quantum computers within 10 years, competition for next-generation computers is expected to intensify. Both IBM and Google, regarded as leaders in this field, aim for practical use by 2030.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.